Beckoning Light (10 page)

He smiled and pulled me closer. “You already have me, Charlotte.”

We spent hours together. I tried to memorize every detail of his face, his hands, and his mannerisms. I asked him questions about himself, his childhood, and his family. He was the first person in his family to be asked to serve directly at Bellgard; he explained that it was an incredible honor. 

He asked me what I did with my days, and I told him about school and playing the cello. He seemed surprised that I was still in school, but seemed also interested in the kinds of things I studied. I gathered that education was different for him. He thought it was wonderful that I was into music. Although he wasn’t musically inclined himself, he loved to listen to other people play. I promised him he would hear me one day. I finally tore myself away and told him I had to go home. Calvin walked me to the gate.

“Charlotte, I love you. I will always love you, and I promise that I will be back for you as soon as I can.” Calvin took my face in his hands.

“I love you, Calvin, and I promise I will wait for you.” I meant every word. I didn’t even consider the enormity of the words we were exchanging; they just flowed naturally.

“That promise means everything to me. It will keep me strong in the days to come.” He smiled. “If at any time you need to communicate with me, or your family needs proof of my commitments, just contact my family. As I told you, they know that we are perfect for one another and will do everything possible to help us.”

“How long will you be gone?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

“Likely it will be months, but I will return as soon as I can. Every day that we are apart is too much, and I will do anything possible to limit the time.” He gently stroked my cheek with his thumb.

“I’m scared. I barely know you, yet I know I can’t live without you.” I tried to hold back my tears.

“I cannot live without you either, but do not be scared. You are with your family, and I will be back for you.” With that he kissed me again, longer and with more urgency. “I love you, Charlotte. Never forget that.”

By the time I walked back into my yard, it was six o’clock in the morning, and the tears were already flowing. I sincerely hoped that Monty would still be out for a run and wouldn’t see me walking in the back door, but I was too emotionally drained to worry. Luckily, I didn’t see him on my way up. I knew that I had no time to sleep, so I took a long hot shower and tried to get ready for the day.

Chapter Nine

Kevin

People always say that teenagers are hard to deal with, but really they’re talking about teenage
girls
. We had been back in Charleston for less than two weeks, and already Charlotte was giving poor Monty a headache.

The Monday before Thanksgiving, Monty was grilling burgers for dinner. “Do you know what’s going on with Charlotte?” he asked with obvious concern.

              “What now?” I asked nervously, because I never knew what to expect with Charlotte.

“Haven’t you noticed?” He was obviously surprised by my reaction.

“No.” Our schedules were so different that I felt like I had barely seen her since we had moved.

“Well, it’s like she’s been sleepwalking today. I’ve even had teachers complaining to me that she fell asleep in class.” He wrinkled his brow as if deep in thought. He then went on to tell me that she snapped at him every time he tried to ask her about it.

I tried to calm him down. It was obvious that he was just out of his element with Charlotte. “Well for now, just let it go. She’s tired and in a bad mood, not exactly newsworthy.” I hoped that he’d relax, and it would all blow over.

Liam came out onto the patio. He was joining us for dinner, which wasn’t surprising since he seemed to eat dinner with us at least a couple of times a week, just like he used to. It was so easy to fall back into the old routine, it sometimes felt like we had never left.

“Do you think it’s about your mom?” Monty asked, bringing me back to the conversation.

“Maybe, coming back probably dug up a lot of memories.”

“That, combined with her birthday and Thanksgiving coming up, might be all it is.” Monty sounded hopeful.

“I think it was a lot easier for me losing my dad when I was so young. You and Charlotte really knew your mom,” Liam said quietly. Liam never talked about his dad, who had died when Liam was just a baby. He had been so sympathetic when our mom died, though, trying to help us in any way he could. I nodded at him, as Monty told me to go upstairs to get Charlotte.

She was blaring music, so I actually had to walk all the way up to her room. I knocked on the door and, when she didn’t answer, I pushed it open. Charlotte was lying on her bed staring at the ceiling.

“Dinner,” I said, while trying to determine if she looked upset.

“I’m not hungry.” She turned away from me.

I decided to find out just how bad of a mood she was in. “Charlotte, I’m used to you being weird, but be easy on Monty. Babysitting you isn’t his job; it’s a favor to dad. So ease up, or he might send you to Siberia.”

“You think he would send me away?” Charlotte sat up, looking alarmed.

“If he doesn’t want to put up with you once I leave.” I tried to keep a straight face.

“Fine, I’ll come down,” she said immediately.

“Good.” Trying to hold in my laughter until I was out of her hearing, I walked back downstairs. As soon as I reached the kitchen, I lost it.

“What’s so funny?” Monty asked, studying my face. “Is she coming down?”

“Yeah, she’s coming down.” I couldn’t stop laughing

“So what’s so funny?” Liam asked.

“She’s coming down so Monty doesn’t send her to Siberia to live with Dad,” I sputtered.

“Why would she think I would do that?” Monty asked.

“Because I told her that if she kept being such a brat, you would want to get rid of her.” Before Monty could argue, I continued, “Hey, you wanted her to come down for dinner.” Right on cue, Charlotte walked into the room.

“Glad you could join us,” I said, finally over the joke.

“Gee thanks.” Charlotte glared at me. Wow, she really was in a bad mood. 

I watched Charlotte during dinner and realized that she did seem kind of out of it, so I decided to pry a little. I followed her into the kitchen to help her with the dishes. “Hey, are you doing okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just haven’t been sleeping well.”

I didn’t fully accept her answer. “Are you sick or something?”

              “I’m really fine,” she repeated. “I think I’ll just go to bed early.” She mustered a smile. If it wasn’t my imagination, she was smiling to appease me.

              Tuesday was a typical day. Charlotte seemed like she was back to normal when I saw her at breakfast, even though she was a tad quieter than usual. We had a home game that night that I was pumped about; I was really getting used to the new team. We won again, and the guys seemed to have finally gotten over me being on the team, and were excited about being on a winning streak. I noticed that Charlotte sat with some friends at the game and seemed to have fun. I had never told her, but I was glad that she always came to my home games; I would miss having her at them in college.

              I woke up on Thanksgiving not knowing what to expect. Growing up, we always had a big traditional Thanksgiving dinner with our family and Liam’s, but for the three years we were in Alaska, we didn’t do much. Dad just didn’t seem interested, and Charlotte and I were never feeling adventurous enough to try it ourselves. While we were gone, Liam and his mom had continued the tradition, so they would be joining us this year, too. Charlotte seemed especially excited about cooking a big meal, and Monty wanted to encourage her enthusiasm, so it looked like we were going to have way too much food. I had been surprised when Charlotte pulled out all of the old cookbooks because she had never shown any interest in cooking before, but it wasn’t like her new enthusiasm for cooking was a bad thing. If it made her happy, and also meant we ate well, then who was I to complain?

              I had slept kind of late, so by the time I walked downstairs I could already smell the turkey in the oven. When I walked into the kitchen, Charlotte, Monty, and Debbie were busy cooking with Charlotte directing everything. Figuring someone would give me instructions if they needed help, I poured some juice and took a seat at the table. 

              “Good morning!” Debbie said cheerfully, taking a break from what she was doing to give me a hug.

              “Happy Thanksgiving, Debbie,” I told her, as she sat down next to me. Charlotte and Monty came over to the table as well, with Monty drinking a large cup of coffee.

              We talked casually for a while. I figured that Liam must have slept in, too, because I hadn’t seen him yet. I was wrong. He walked into the kitchen with a big smile on his face and told Charlotte to go check out her computer.

              “My computer?” she asked suspiciously.

              “There’s an early birthday gift on there for you.” 

              Charlotte stood and headed upstairs.

              “Wait, what did you get her?” I asked as soon as I heard her on the stairs.

              “Just some music, I made her a playlist.” Liam leaned against the counter.

              “Nice, I’m sure she’ll love that.” I realized instantly that I would have to rethink my birthday gift for her. Somehow, the iTunes gift card plan didn’t sound too creative. It felt like Charlotte was upstairs forever, but she eventually bounded down and gave Liam a hug.

              “Wow, thanks so much, Liam. It’s awesome. I only listened to a little bit of each song, but I can’t wait to listen for real later,” Charlotte gushed. 

              “You’re welcome. Happy birthday. It wasn’t too hard because you’re the only person I know with as eclectic a music taste as mine.” He smiled. I looked across the table and noticed that Monty was giving Debbie a funny look, like they were sharing an inside joke. 

              Our meal was fantastic, and it was a lot of fun to have everyone at the table. Monty made a nice toast about how thankful he was to have Charlotte and me back with him for the holiday. Charlotte got up to give him a hug, and it reminded me of why it had been such a good decision to get Charlotte back in Charleston before I left for school.

              I spent a lot of the afternoon watching football with Liam and Monty. Charlotte seemed to be having a great time with Debbie. I had a feeling she was really glad to have a woman around. Monty left us alone while he cleaned up the kitchen, and it was really nice to catch up with Liam. Even though I saw him at practice all the time, and he was over for dinner a lot, I felt like we hadn’t had much time to talk, especially when the topic of conversation didn’t involve my sister.

              “So I never asked you, where are you planning on going to school next year?” I felt kind of bad that it had taken me almost two weeks to broach the subject.

              “I’m thinking Tulane or Vanderbilt,” Liam replied, “but we’ll see when the acceptances roll in.”

              “Well, if I had to choose between New Orleans and Nashville, I’d go with New Orleans, and remember to save me a spot for Mardi Gras.”  

              Liam laughed. “I’m sure that your coach would love that, taking off for a party right in the middle of the season.”

              “Ah, good point,” I admitted.

              When Monty finished cleaning up, the three of us went out to shoot some hoops while Charlotte stayed inside with Debbie. When Liam and Debbie left that night, I sat in the den with Monty and Charlotte just enjoying the sensation of being home. Charlotte was back to normal, and she was going to be just fine when I left for school. It was a nice ending to a very nice Thanksgiving. 

Chapter Ten

Charlotte

I had spent most of the evening at my desk daydreaming about Calvin more than actually doing any work. No matter how hard I tried to concentrate, I found myself staring out the window. I was trying to figure out some math problems when I saw a faint light out in the garden. The sun had just set, and I wondered who could possibly be out there. It was the Friday night after Thanksgiving, and Uncle Monty and Kevin weren’t due back from the game for another few hours. I walked out onto the porch and realized that I hadn’t imagined the light; there was definitely a faint glimmer out there.

Immediately, my heart started to race as I wondered if it could possibly be Calvin. I had managed to pull myself out of my misery over missing him when Kevin made me realize that if I upset Monty too much, he might send me back to live with Dad. I wasn’t willing to take the chance of being away when Calvin came back to find me. The thought of seeing him excited me, but I felt doubtful that he could be back already. Still, I was unwilling to risk missing him if there was even the faintest possibility of seeing him again. 

I zipped up a hoodie over my t-shirt and tied on sneakers. Calvin had said he would be gone for months, but that light looked like it was coming from beyond the gate. It had to be him. I tried to come up with scenarios for how he had returned so soon as I rushed downstairs and into the night. I deliberated for a moment at the gate, but soon pulled out the necklace which I had started wearing every day so that I would always be ready. I inserted the key into the lock and pushed the gate open.

This time, I wasn’t blinded by sunlight. The sky was even darker inside, with only the barest hint of the rising sun. I looked around anxiously, searching for a sign that Calvin was near. Suddenly, a figure appeared with a lantern.

“Hello, Charlotte,” a voice said from a few feet away. Immediately, my heart sank. That voice did not belong to Calvin; it belonged to James. My disappointment turned to shock.

“James! What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I suppose I could ask you the same, but really all that matters is that you’re here.” James walked toward me.

“Huh? How did you get in?”